The largest hydrogen fuel cell in the world, CLEARgen™, will be deployed from Burnaby, B.C. to Eastlake, Ohio for a trial period that will last five years, marking the first ever deployment of its kind. Hydrogen fuel is considered to be one of the world’s cleanest and greenest sources of energy.
Ballard Power Systems and Ohio FirstEnergy Generation Corporation have agreed to allow the U.S. utility to activate the fuel cell generator. CLEARgen™ is based on the proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology developed by Ballard, enabling strain to be taken off of the power grid during periods of peak demand, and insuring uninterrupted power to customers in the summer months, when demand is generally at its highest. The fuel cell system has the capability of producing up to one megawatt of power, which is enough to power 500 homes on its own.
Ballard Power Systems photo
Hydrogen powered cars might be a long ways off, but in the mean time maybe we can charge our electric cars at a CLEARgen™.
Dangerous Bacterium Hosts Genetic Remnant of Life’s Distant Past
Within a dangerous stomach bacterium, Yale University researchers have discovered an ancient but functioning genetic remnant from a time before DNA existed, they report in the August 13 issue of the journal Science.
Scientists think this is the kind of RNA structure that would have been needed for life exist before the evolution of double-stranded DNA. For years it was thought RNA’s function was a product of DNA which made proteins.
Silent Roar: Searching for the Snow Leopard
Acclaimed wildlife filmmakers capture the first intimate portrait of the world’s most elusive cat.
Most big cats do their best to remain hidden from human eyes, but none are quite as adept at this as the snow leopard. These cats lead largely solitary lives, populating the Himalayas at altitudes that offer only about half the oxygen to which humans are accustomed.
I saw this on PBS. The whole video for this program is not on-line yet, but Nature usually puts them on-line eventually.
Amur leopards – From Planet Earth
Of the nine surviving subspecies of leopard, by far the most endangered is the Amur. When filmed for Planet Earth in 2006, 50 individuals remained in the wild. There may now, in 2010, be fewer than 20. Poaching is still a major threat: since 2002 alone, nine skins or corpses have been found in Russia and two more in China. Amur leopards suffer from habitat loss and with such a small population are likely to suffer problems of inbreeding. Fortunately, there are around 300 individuals in zoos now being used in a breeding programme with the hope of reintroducing them to the wild in the future.
Unfortunately if you have an IP address outside the UK they won’t show you the video. There is a good short video on YouTube courtesy Big Cat Rescue. Amurs are sometimes called the Manchurian or Korean leopard.
tangledwing 
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